Social media addiction

Have you ever been on a date with someone who can’t help checking Twitter and updating friends on Facebook? Is there something more annoying on Earth?

Brace yourself and try to be nice, this person could suffer from social media addiction.

The Chicago’s Booth School of Business conducted a research involving 205 persons in Germany in order to analyze the addictive properties of social networks. Seven times a day, the volunteers were polled via Blackberry and asked when they felt the desire to use social networks in the past 30 minutes and gauge this desire on a scale from mild to irresistible.

During this week-long experience participants reported 7,827 desires, more than 1,100 a day!

The International Center for Media and the Public Agenda conducted another experience named “24 hours: unplugged”. During 24 hours, college students had to live without any media connection to the world: adieu Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin… After the experience, their describe their feelings during this short period of deprivation and used terms like “addiction”, “isolation”, “failure”, “confusion” etc.

Maybe you already read my previous article about Facebook depression, to me it is related: spending a day without social media can be felt to be a desertion, an isolation.

The urge of checking Facebook and Twitter seems more difficult to resist than the urge of smoking a cigarette or the urge of having a drink.

Of course, the consequences are not as serious, but I think that the waste of time generated by this addiction has to be taken into account anyway.

Do you feel addicted to social media? To be sure, complete this quiz from http://smallbiztrends.com/

Have you ever…:

Checked Facebook first thing in the morning, before you shower or have your morning coffee?

Turned your computer monitor around so co-workers can’t see how much time you spend checking your personal Facebook, Digg and Twitter accounts at work?

Woke up in the middle of the night and checked Twitter to see if you’ve been mentioned?

Felt like something is missing when you go on vacation and can’t check social media accounts?

Spent more time interacting with people on social sites than in person?

Good article, and mostly valid observations…. however, one line I must disagree with, as it is just not so…. to wit: “The urge of checking Facebook and Twitter seems more difficult to resist than the urge of smoking a cigarette or the urge of having a drink.” Sorry, not proven, nor even reasonable, especially for those of us who have fought against either, or both, of those particular addictions. Cigarettes have been dramatically proven to be harder to quit than heroin; it’s fact. And the problems of those who cannot stop drinking are so much a part of their life, it can take a lifetime to overcome….

Otherwise, I find this to be both informative, and important in today’s world… time will tell just how important…. again, nice post… interesting and timely….